Sabbath Day

Sabbath Day from William Kassler on Vimeo.

Recipes I want to try

Ngoh Hiang

Quick and easy Chicken Rendang

Steamed Pumpkin Cake

Easy to cook Japanese Beef Stew

Macaroni and Cheese

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Cheese and Chives Scones

95 days without a maid and we're still doing fine

I'm much happier these days, without a maid. Very tired on some days but much happier.

The maid started acting odd, about 3mths into her job - forgetting stuff, not doing stuff that she's been doing for months, attitude was deteriorating. I was disappointed, of course, having had to change so many but it was time to let her go when she challenged me to send her away. And so I did. Then she asked me, "what about my family?".

Anyway, the good thing about not having a maid - kids are more independent

• Making their milk - After I changed the thermos flask to something they can handle, I taught them how to make their own milk at night. They wash up after drinking, before they sleep. Only time when this happens automatically without me reminding them, is when they want to play on the computer. I'm happy enough that they're doing it on their own.
• Changing the sheets - We change our sheets every Thursday but sometimes I'm busy and so I change on Wednesday night. Somehow, they find it quite fun removing the covers. Toby likes the pillow cases, and they cooperate (yeah, sometimes they do things together without quibbling) and pull the bolstercases off. What they don't like, is not putting the new sheets / covers on again. The odd thing is, they don't like to choose the new sheets.
  
• Doing the laundry - Well, this is simply dumping the stuff from the laundry basket, adding the laundry ball and soap powder. I taught them to adjust the water volume and listen out for the beep to add the softener. On good days, they'll bring the bamboo pole out and hang up the laundry. Toby helps me bring down the dry clothes and Tiffy helps me fold. She's watching me iron but still not keen to handle the iron.
  
• Clearing up after dinner - They now drain the liquid in the dishes in the sink and then throw away the leftover food, leaving the empty dishes in the sink for me to wash. Table is wiped by them now and the share the throwing of the rubbish (one ties up the bin bag and the other gets the door and gate).

What does that leave me, 'cos it seems like they're doing all the work? Well, I do the floor and toilet and take up the slack when they don't do the stuff above. One thing I don't do, is wash their school shoes for them. If they don't wash, they'll just have to go to school in dirty shoes. So far, so good, they wash regularly.

Nowadays, our place is not as clean and we eat tingkat dinners. We used to eat out at the coffeeshops during lunch till the stall owners recognised us but thank God, I'm starting to cook simple lunches for them now.